Shakespeare's 17th century masterpiece about the "Melancholy Dane" was given one of its best screen treatments by Soviet director Grigori Kozintsev. Kozintsev's Elsinore was a real castle in Estonia, utilized metaphorically as the "stone prison" of the mind wherein Hamlet must confine himself in order to avenge his father's death. Hamlet himself is portrayed (by Innokenti Smoktunovsky) as the sole sensitive intellectual in a world made up of debauchers and revellers. Several of Kozintsev directorial choices seem deliberately calculated to inflame the purists: Hamlet's delivers his "To be or not to be" soliloquy with his back to the camera, allowing the audience to fill in its own interpretations.
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Cast
13 people
Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy
Hamlet
Known for
Beware of the Car!
Letter Never Sent
Anastasiya Vertinskaya
Ophelia
Known for
Amphibian Man
War and Peace, Part I: Andrei Bolkonsky
Mikhail Nazvanov
Claudius
Known for
Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Elza Radziņa
Gertrude
Also in
King Lear
Death Under Sail
Yuriy Tolubeev
Polonius
Also in
Don Quixote
The Overcoat
Igor Dmitriev
Rosencrantz
Known for
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
The Pokrovsky Gates
Vadim Medvedev
Guildenstern
Known for
Autumn Marathon
Vladimir Erenberg
Horatio
Also in
The Bronze Bird
Lady with the Dog
Stepan Oleksenko
Laertes
Also in
Soldiers of Freedom
The Kyiv Direction
Grigoriy Gay
Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Known for
The Red Tent
Ants Lauter
Priest
Also in
Men Don't Cry
The Milkman of Mäeküla
Viktor Kolpakov
Gravedigger
Also in
The Adjutant of His Excellency
Don Quixote
Grigori Kozintsev Director · William Shakespeare Author Dmitri Shostakovich Composer
United States release September 14, 1964 · Produced in Russia, Russia · Production United Artists Pictures
Production
Lenfilm
Production
United Artists Pictures
Studio
Russia · Russia
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Гамлет
Original language
Russian
Spoken on screen
Russian
Release dates
Russia · June 24, 1964
Theatrical
United States · September 14, 1964
Premiere · New York Film Festival
Greece
December 6, 2012 · Limited theatrical · Re-issue
September 28, 2023 · Limited theatrical · Re-issue
Italy
September 9, 1964 · Premiere · Venice Film Festival
Russia
July 31, 1964 · Premiere · All-Union Film Festival
XC
July 4, 1964 · Premiere · Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
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Some details come from TheTVDB.